Compugen Ltd.

Compugen was founded by Eli Mintz, Simchon Faigler and Amir Natan. Mintz conceived of the idea for the company in 1991 while accompanying his wife, Liat Mintz, to a genomics engagement at the Pasteur Institute in France. She commented that the quantities of data being produced by scientists involved in DNA sequencing exceeded what computers could process at reasonable speeds. Eli Mintz partnered with colleagues Faigler and Natan from the IDF's elite Talpiot program to develop a more powerful specialized processor for sequence similarity searches; and the company's first product, dubbed the "Bioccelerator", had speeds up to one thousand times faster than other platforms being used at the time.

In 1997, the company followed this success by introducing LEADS, an EST clustering and assembly platform. By around 2001, Compugen had effected a shift in its business model from a company whose almost exclusive focus was marketing computer programs and applications to one whose operations extended into the diagnostics and therapeutics fields. In 2010, under Anat Cohen-Dayag's new leadership, the company shifted its business model to become a fully integrated biopharma company using its developed computational biology discovery technology to identify novel targets and develop its own pipeline of immuno-oncology drugs.

Compugen began trading on the Nasdaq in 2000 and on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in 2002. Also in 2002, Compugen spun off its subsidiary Evogene, established as an agriscience division in 1999.

COM701 / PVRIG

PVRIG is a novel B7/CD28-like immune checkpoint target candidate. In June 2016, Compugen announced the selection of COM701 as the lead therapeutic candidate for PVRIG. COM701 is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1 study in patients with advanced solid tumors. The study is designed to evaluate the safety and tolerability of COM701 as monotherapy and in combination with a PD-1 inhibitor. Additional endpoints include evaluation of PK/PD and preliminary clinical activity in certain tumor types such as NSCLC, breast, ovarian endometrial cancer. Preclinical data demonstrate that these tumor types express a high level of the biomarkers PVRIG and PVRL2. The Phase 1 study is currently enrolling at various sites in the United States.

BAY 1905254 / ILDR2

ILDR2 (internal designation CGEN-15001T) is a novel B7/CD28-like immune checkpoint target candidate discovered by Compugen. This program is partnered to Bayer AG. BAY 1905254, an antibody targeting ILDR2 was co-developed by Compugen and Bayer. After completing preclinical development, the program was transferred to Bayer for further development. Under the terms of their license and collaboration agreement, Bayer is responsible for all the clinical development of BAY 1905254 and its future commercialization worldwide, if the therapy is approved. In September 2018, Bayer initiated patient dosing in a Phase 1 trial assessing the safety and tolerability of BAY 1905254. The study is currently recruiting in patients in the United States. The trial will include 196 patients.

COM902 / TIGIT

TIGIT is an immune checkpoint in the B7/CD28 family. In March 2017, COM902 was selected as the lead therapeutic candidate for CGEN-15137/TIGIT. Compugen is planning to file an IND with the FDA and initiate a Phase 1 study for COM902 in 2019.

COM503 / IL18BP

Antibody that inhibit IL18-binding protein (IL18BP) to release IL18 in the tumor and activate the immune system. Compugen licensed the asset to Gilead in 2023.